Gold Ring
by madamada-chan
Summary: It's not like a ring, because it has a beginning. You just don't see it coming. But it's like a ring, because it has no end. [FujiRyo... somewhat]


**A/N:** I wrote this while back, but never really thought of posting it until i read **yamatoforever**'s fic. (sweatdrops) so i thought... 'hmmm, might as well post it' XD 

this was one of the "writing drills", where I tried to get ideas from anything random (e.g. word from a dictionary, quote from a book or manga, and even random scenes that I see on the TV or come up with while sleeping on the train on my way to school )

and so, I flipped through the nearest thing (which happened to be a BL manga Oo) and when i randomly opened a page and pointed my pencil, i ended up with this:

_"It was like the ring came back to me on its own."_ (1) 

* * *

_A ring?_

_Isn't that a good sign…?_

_Gold means strong… Unbreakable_

_A ring means endless… It has no beginning nor end…_

-----------------

**Gold Ring**

-----------------

"Thanks for the hard work!" Oishi bent down to pick up his tennis bag then turned to Fuji, who was sitting on the bench. "Well then, we're going on ahead. Please lock the doors after you leave the club room, Fuji."

Fuji grinned. "Sure. See you tomorrow, then."

"See ya, Fuji!" Eiji waved then tailed behind Oishi.

Right after Eiji closed the door behind him, the door to the shower room opened.

"Ah, sorry for making you wait, Fuji-senpai." Ryoma came out, drying his hair with a towel.

"Don't worry about it." Fuji smiled. "I wanted to rest a little anyway before taking a shower." He then unzipped his bag and took out his own towel and a change of clothes.

When he took in the sight of Ryoma, practically naked save for another towel wrapped around his waist that covered the lower part of his body, Fuji's smile faded.

With a soft gasp, his eyes widened, and lips slightly gaped open.

"Could it be..."

---

_Eight years ago, his family went to Hawaii for the summer holidays. _

_On the third day, as they were walking along the sea shore, little Syuusuke suddenly felt that something didn't feel right. It was as if something was missing._

_It took a second for him to realize that no, it wasn't something._ Someone _was missing._

_He tugged on his mother's skirt and asked. "Okaasan, where's Yuuta?"_

_"Yuuta?" She frantically shot her head in all directions then let out a horrified gasp. "Oh my God..."_

_She ran back a few steps behind them and looked as far as she could. _

_"Yuuta! Yuuta!" She called out. _

_Syuusuke didn't miss the note of panic in her quivering voice. And for the first time in his life, he felt a genuine feeling of dread slowly rising within him. _

_It was only then that he remembered what his older sister Yumiko had said earlier, when they had just stepped out of their hotel room. _

_/"Kaasan, don't let go of Yuuta's hand."/ _

_It was more than just the words of a child. _

_More than the concern of an eldest sibling._

_It was a warning._

---

_Yumiko and Syuusuke were immediately brought back to the hotel, while their parents, along with the police, were preparing to conduct a search. _

_"Don't you dare go out, you hear me?" Their mother warned sternly. "If anyone else gets lost I..." She paused, feeling her voice crack, and cut off what she was about to say with a sigh. "We'll be back as soon as we find him, dears." She walked out and closed the door behind her._

_Syuusuke tried to be a patient, obedient child. But when it came to Yuuta, he found it to be an impossible task. He felt restless. He couldn't just sit there and do nothing while his precious little brother was out there and could be in trouble! He looked at Yumiko, but before he could even think of what to say, she smiled at him and simply said "Go"._

_"Is it really okay, Neesan?" Syuusuke asked hesitantly._

_"Yes. Don't worry too much." She walked closer to Syuusuke and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Today, you will find your most important person."_

_He grinned back at her then rushed through the door. _

_On his way out, she hurriedly told him to be back before dinner._

---

_He tried to recall, as much as he could, the exact trail they walked on before Yuuta got lost. He checked and double-checked every corner and took in everything as far as his sight could reach, looking closely at every brown-haired boy wearing a red shirt. _

_As dusk drew nearer and engulfed the surroundings in an orange hue, Syusuke looked around one last time, before turning back. _

_Shoulders slumped, his dreary steps led him back to the hotel as if on autopilot. Feeling more tired than he should be, he flopped down on one of the comfy cushions at the lobby and looked without really seeing up at the blinding chandeliers that hung from the soaring ceiling. _

_He didn't even bother to look as he felt the sofa move a little when someone sat beside him, until a tiny spangle caught the corner of his eye. When he looked to his right, the first thing that captured his attention was a golden ring reflecting the light coming from the chandeliers. It was tied to a black string draped around the neck of (who he finally noticed was) a little boy. _

_"Wow... That's so pretty."_

_The other boy tilted his head to the side, looking at Syuusuke curiously. _

_Syuusuke mused that it must be because he didn't understand what he just said. They were in Hawaii, after all. _

_He snapped out of his thoughts when the boy's petite hand gently took his. The little one then placed the ring on top of Syuusuke's palm without taking off the string it was attached to. "It's not mine. It's my dad's wedding ring." _

_To Syuusuke's surprise, the boy spoke back in Japanese. And he was quite fluent too._

_"Why is he letting you keep such an important thing?" Syuusuke asked, eyeing the said object with awe._

_The little boy chuckled. "He lost it once. When Okaasan found out about it, she locked him out of the house and told him that until he finds it, he's staying out. And so, he ended up sleeping on the garage for a couple of days."_

_For the first time that day, Syuusuke felt himself relax and before he knew it, he was already laughing. "That's… That's so silly!" _

_"Isn't it?" And they laughed together. _

_"After that, he told me to keep it. And that if it gets lost again, he'll lock me out instead. Stupid old man…" He pouted. "I don't really understand it that much, but it's important to him and Okaasan so I better not lose it." _

_"Lose… Something important…" Syuusuke's smile faded. "Today, I also lost something important. My little brother went missing just this morning." He looked up at the chandeliers again, blinking hard, as if he was trying to hold his tears in. "I wonder if I'll ever see him again…" He let out a wistful sigh. _

_"It's too early to give up." _

_In a blink, he saw the gold ring held right in front of his face. He looked at the boy beside him whose arm was outstretched, and the dark string no longer draped around his neck but held tightly by his closed fist._

_"Look at this. It's so small, isn't it? But Oyaji still found it. Your brother's bigger than this. It won't be impossible to find him." _

_Syuusuke felt like his hand moved on its own, then wrapped his fingers around the tiny ring. "You're right." _

_And he smiled. _

---

_"Tadaima." _

_"Oh, Syuusuke. Mom just called. They're coming back." Yumiko ran to him eagerly and held his hands. "They've found Yuuta!"_

---

"It's been eight years, hasn't it…"

Fuji sauntered towards Ryoma. He looked down at the shorter boy, still smiling, but his eyes were no longer closed. From looking straight at Ryoma's eyes, his gaze traveled down the younger one's neck, then to his bare chest, where a tiny object object held by a dark string was glistening, reflecting the light coming from the sun's rays that passed through gap between the curtains.

Fuji tentatively wrapped his fingers around the golden ring.

"Ah, that. It's not mine. It's my dad's wedding ring." Ryoma shrugged nonchalantly.

"And you're keeping it because he lost it once." Fuji continued for him.

"How did you…?"

Fuji teasingly bopped Ryoma on the head. "You really have a terrible memory."

He picked up his towel and entered the shower room before any more questions came from the confused freshman.

---

That night, Fuji's smile lingered long after dinner.

He was sitting on the windowsill, looking up at the bright silver moon when his older sisted sat beside him.

"You seem more cheerful than usual."

Fuji chuckled. "Is that so..." Then, quietly- almost reverently- he began. "Neesan, remember the gold ring I used to talk to you about?"

"Ee. You've always been looking for it. So, did you find it already?"

"Found it, huh..." Syuusuke thought for a moment. "No. Not really. It felt more like..."

Fuji looked up to stars that littered the night sky.Then he smiled to the heavens, as if thanking whoever was up there, for finally having found what he had been long searching for.

"It was like the ring came back to me on its own."

* * *

**Disclaimers:** Tennis no Oujisama belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

(1) Quote was taken from**"Only the Ring Finger Knows"** _(Sono Yubidake ga Shitteiru)_ by to Kannagi Satoru and Honami Yukine.

091905


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